The Mountain’s Home
by Chris4Short
Summary: Sam thinks about the SGC and how it is home to her. Set in Season 1.


Stepping into the 'gate room and walking down the metal ramp, Sam smiled. She was finally home after a long mission. She and her team - Jack, Daniel and Teal'c - would only have to go to the infirmary and get a clean bill of health, then they would brief General Hammond. Finally, after all the necessary rituals, she could either go to her lab or quarters.

The thought that the underground, ex-missile silo-turned-SGC would be home, struck Sam as odd. After all, she had a house in a quiet suburb of Colorado Springs; it was not like she _had_ to stay in her quarters. But the thought of having her friends near was comforting; they were only within walking distance should she need something.

Finished going through the standard exam, Sam caught Daniel's eye as he was signing off on the forms.

"Hey, how about we finish 'Gulliver's Travels'?" Sam asked as he walked to where she was about to sign out as well.

"Sure," Daniel said excitedly.

It hadn't taken the two scientists long to discover each others love for books – all kinds in fact dotted their own libraries. They decided to start discussing the books as a way to unwind from missions or to de-stress after figuring how the world was made. Daniel had picked "Gulliver's Travels" first since it seemed to fit what they went thru daily.

"Shall we meet on level 16? I heard they replaced the couches," Daniel suggested as they walked to the locker room.

"Finally. Those things looked awful! They should send them to the Gou'ald; they could appreciate beat up and well used stuff."

They shared a laugh as the entered the locker room. Jack and Teal'c finished and in freash clothes, were heading to level 22 to pick some food up before the briefing. Watching them walk toward the elevators, Sam left Daniel in the locker room.

Turning in the door, Sam smiled and said, "Fifteen minutes and it's mine."

Reading the new posts of daily news on the board by the lockers, Sam's thoughts floated back to what had struck her in the 'gate room.

Home.

It was not the house she had bought last year; she was sure there were some unopened boxes sitting in the living room. No, it was the 12x18, concrete, grey walled, room on level 25. There, she had placed pictures, had a small bookshelf, and other small homely objects; it looked as if she had lived there permanently.

It was the book shelves in both her quarters and lab that made Jack squeak in humorous glee. The technical manuals, spy novels, humor books and chick flicks, all occupied the same space. Jack thought it made her eccentric and geeky; Teal'c, he did not understand that much about humans' obsession with reading. And Daniel - well Daniel's shelves were just like hers.

Her lab, her quarters - those were her havens; her place to go when things went wrong. Her lab was filled with a long table, piled with computers, probes, and other instruments. The beeping machines, over head lighting, and the strong smell of coffee all were distinctly her lab. It was in the there she thought about the joys that her team brought her, and those that other SG teams supplied when SG-1 did not bring any technical objects back.

Remembering that she had two projects to keep her occupied during SG-1's three day leave, Sam smiled as she reviewed them. One was a machine she was desperately wanted to turn on but didn't know how to with out much thought and diagramming. The other was a weapon one of the SG teams had brought back and was in the middle of back engineering.

Daniel startled her as he tapped her shoulder. "I'm done."

"Thanks. Tell the Colonel and Teal'c I'll be up in a moment."

Smiling as Daniel went down the hall, Sam turned into the locker room. Standing in front of her locker, her eyes slid from hers to the other three lockers with SG-1 labels. Jack's was to her left, on her right was Daniel's and Teal'c's lockers. Sighing, she opened her locker and grabbed fresh clothes looking at the other lockers as she closed it once more.

Cracking an even bigger smile, Sam could not believe that she had the job she did. Where else could she explore other worlds and be in a team that felt more like friends and family then co-workers? What other job let them let loose and relax around each other, making everyday a joy to go through the 'gate with?

None other.

And they were family. Bonded by comradory and respect, by each adventure that was before them. And at the end of the day, they came back to earth. They came back home.

And for Sam, where her family was, was home. The underground base, shrouded in secrecy, was home.

##End##


End file.
